Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Physical layer for packet-based communication

From:

Rahul Dhar

Subject:

Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Physical layer for packet-based communication

Date:

Mon, 7 Feb 2005 12:14:26 -0500

User-agent:

Mutt/1.4i

On Thu, Feb 03, 2005 at 06:18:15PM -0800, Eric Blossom wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 03, 2005 at 03:34:50PM -0600, Meenal wrote:
>> This is of great interest. On my wishlist is a data link layer
>> module (MAC/LLC functionality) that would enable GNURadio, the
>> physical layer, to work with IP.
>> Is the Click Modular router useful in this respect?
>> Thanks
>> Meenal
>
> As far as I can tell there are a couple of ways we can get there. The
> most straight-forward is to use the tap/tun interface to create either
> a pseudo IP or ethernet port from user space. The kernel and the rest
> of the networking stack is on one end, GNU Radio would be on the
> other.
As I understand the GNU
Radio programming model, a MAC layer would have to be integrated
directly into the PHY. This isn't necessarily a problem since MACs and
PHYs are so closely related nowadays. However, for a networking guy
like me, it does create a problem in that I'm not so good with signal
processing, so hacking a MAC into an existing PHY or creating a new
AMC/PHY is kind of scary. Working through tun/tap would be nice from
layer 3 and higher, but the link layer won't be able to do that. I
guess this gets back to having a nice interface between the MAC layer
and the PHY.
> Click isn't a requirement, it's more of an example of how things could
> be made to work. [And a source of examples of how to get packets in
> and out of the kernel from users space.]
Ooh, combing Click and GNU Radio could let you do some seriously scary
stuff :)
--
Rahul Dhar
address@hidden
Actually, my goal is to have a sandwich named after me.